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“What are you asking me, Charlotte?”
Withering under his glare, my mind spun until I landed on the question that I had asked before and thought I’d believed his answer. Now, having seen what was on the USB, I wasn’t so sure. “Did you kill Amy?”
Jacob’s features turned to stone, and the fear dominating me turned to blinding terror. “What is it you want me to say, angel? That I thought I was in love with Amy, but she rejected me. That she flaunted herself all over campus just to piss me off?” My entire body turned to ice; a movie I’d never seen before playing in my head as he continued speaking. “Do you want me to tell you that she sent me a video of her having a threesome with two guys, followed by one of them threatening me to leave her alone?” He leaned forward, resting his hands on the desk. “Or how about the moment I lured her to my dorm and pointed a gun at her, that one right there—” his gaze slid to the pistol lying on his desk “—and made her drink neat vodka that I’d laced with rohypnol, and when she was almost unconscious, I fucked her hard to show her what she’d been missing?”
A small gasp escaped my lips, my eyes brimming with tears. Sympathy slammed into me; Amy must have been petrified on her last night on this earth, much like I was, only I hoped this wouldn’t be my last night on this planet.
Jacob straightened again. “Or perhaps you’d like me to tell you that I didn’t give her quite enough rohypnol to keep her unconscious for as long as I wanted, and when she came to, she managed to escape my dorm when I had gone out? Or that it was sheer luck that I was on my way back when I saw her jump in her car and drive away, and so I followed her. Is that what you want me to tell you, angel?”
Silent tears slid down my face. “Is that the truth?”
He ran a hand over his jawline. “What do you think?”
“I think that’s true,” I replied on a sob. “I think you drugged and raped her, and she was on her way to get help but crashed because of what you’d given her.”
Jacob’s mouth pulled into a spine-chilling grin, and for a second, it was as if the Devil himself was standing before me. “Maybe. Or perhaps she crashed because I caught up to her in my car. Maybe I clipped the rear of her car and spun her off the road…”
By now, my heart was racing faster than a bullet and bile churned in my stomach, threatening to erupt. “You killed her because she didn’t love you back?”
Jacob scoffed. “I didn’t love her, angel. I thought I did, but now I know that I never knew what love was until I met you.”
I sniffed, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand. “I don’t think you know what love is. What you feel is obsession and a fucked up need to control me. To turn me into your vision of a perfect woman.”
His gaze narrowed on me. “Don’t belittle what I feel for you, Charlotte. What I’ve felt from the minute I laid eyes on you. And do I need to remind you what happens when you swear at me?”
At the reminder of being put over his knee, rage and terror exploded out of me. “Screw you, Jacob! I’m done with being controlled by you; you’re a liar, a manipulator, and a murderer! I want out of this toxic relationship before I wind up like Amy.”
“You think I’m just going to let you walk out of here, angel?” My mouth moved in a circle, wanting to demand my freedom, but knowing deep down that I would never be free of Jacob. “Besides, you have nothing to worry about. You’re not like Amy. She never loved me, but you do. You love me, even the darkest parts.”
My bottom lip wobbled. “I thought I did. But you’re not who I thought you were.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, my heart cracked in the middle. I did love Jacob, but how could I love a man who lied, manipulated his way into my heart, and was responsible for the death of someone?
A growl rumbled deep in his chest, low and deadly. Abruptly, he lurched forward, and thinking he was going to pounce over the desk, something flicked in my head. Perhaps survival instinct, or perhaps I’d finally realized just how brainwashed I’d been by him, and wasn’t prepared to live a life like that any more. Either way, I grabbed the gun from the desk and held it in front of me with two shaky hands, pointing it directly at Jacob’s chest.
He froze, one hand resting on the desk as if he had reached for the gun, before amusement lit up his eyes. “You going to shoot me, angel?”
Certain my heart was going to beat out of my chest from the fierce rush of adrenaline pumping through me, I sucked in a deep breath. “Maybe. If you don’t let me leave this goddamn house right now.”
His lips lifted on one side into a cunning half-grin. “Then shoot me, because you aren’t leaving. But I’m warning you, Charlotte. If you shoot me, you better make sure you kill me because that will be the only way you’ll ever be free of me.”
The gun shook between my trembling hands, my finger curled around the trigger. I’d never shot a gun before, and I didn’t want to use it now, but a feeling had taken root in my stomach that if I lowered the gun, he would strike, and my punishment would be severe.
Unsurvivable.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke. A thick tension built around us as we stared at each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. After what seemed like an eternity, Jacob sighed, his shoulders sagging.
“Put the gun down, angel. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
His tone was softer, almost back to the one he used when whispering sweet nothings in my ear during sex, or telling me how much he loved me. In weeks gone by, I would have fallen for that charm, but the image of Amy’s picture flashed into my mind, and I tightened my grip on the gun.
I wasn’t going to end up like her.
“Charlotte, put the fucking gun down!” Jacob bellowed, his deep timbre reverberating off every surface of the room.
“Let me go,” I replied quietly, doing my best to hold my nerves steady.
He glanced away, looking down at the floor and muttering something under his breath. When he lifted his gaze again, his eyes clashed with mine, darker than ever. He released another growl at the same time as rushing forward.
